1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shoes, especially athletic shoes, in general, and more particularly, to structures for circulating air and absorbing shocks encountered when wearing such footwear.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already known various constructions of shoes, among them athletes' footwear and their not-too-distant relatives, the ever-popular "sneakers". While even "fully enclosing" shoes or boots, that is those having natural or artificial material uppers, perform to satisfaction as far as air access to various parts of the foot of the wearer is concerned when such footwear is used for normal day-to-day activities, there are circumstances, such as when footwear such as the aforementioned sneakers is used in more strenuous activities or, for all intents and purposes, at all times when athletic footwear is being used in sports and similar activities, when the air circulation especially in the toe region of the shoe is simply inadequate to properly deal with the problem of accumulating moisture (sweat) at the affected region.
Attempts have been made to address this issue, be it by arranging "breathing" (i.e., permeable fabric) inserts at, or by providing perforations in, the zones of the shoe uppers adjacent such regions. Yet, experience has shown that, while these measures may not be absolutely worthless, their effectiveness and efficacy leave much to be desired. This is primarily so because, as has been realized during the contemplation of the present invention, there is not much to compel air to actually flow through such permeable fabric inserts or perforations in and out of the toe region. Of course, the situation is somewhat different as far as the instep area of the foot arch region is concerned, especially since the curvature of the foot arch changes as the foot moves even while walking, so that such inserts or perforations can frequently be found in sneakers and athletic footwear at such areas of the shoe uppers. This, however, does not do anything for ventilation of the toe region of the wearer's foot where the problem of moisture accumulation is perhaps most acute.
Nor are fabric inserts very useful in absorbing shocks or forces encountered by the feet during wearing the footwear. There are already known various shoe inserts, including air-filled tubes or resilient cushions, that tend to absorb or mitigate at least part of the shock force. However, experience has shown that the air-filled tubes do not provide sufficient give, and that the cushions provide too much give, so that their usefulness is not altogether satisfactory.